30 Minutes
by Artemis Reiko
Summary: Lucy forces Natsu to go on a blind date and tells him he has to stay for at least 30 minutes, and if he's still not interested he can leave. He mistakenly assumes that Gray is his date and Gray rolls with it because Natsu is cute and seems interesting and it's not like he was planning on doing anything else so he might as well.
1. One Date

Lucy rolled her eyes at his stubborn idiocy.

"Natsu, it's one date. _One,"_ she was quickly losing her patience.

He glared at her from behind the manga he was reading, _Kuroshitsuji,_ before closing it, putting it on the coffee table, and countering her suggestion with the obvious.

"With a _stranger."_ He wasn't going to do this. He didn't care _what_ she said or did. Not this time.

She huffed in annoyance and informed him, "That's the _point_ of a blind date, Natsu."

"I don't know him." _And I don't plan to._

"You don't want to date anyone you do know," she reminded him. _Even though a lot of them have tried to get you to at least consider them to no avail._

"You don't know that," he said petulantly, eyes narrowed and staring directly at her so she wouldn't catch the lie.

"Yes, I do." She saw through it anyway.

"No, you don't," he insisted, crossing his arms over his chest, subtly trying to intimidate her so she would back down. It didn't work.

"Do you want to date Freed then?" she asked.

"What? No!" he yelled. Freed and Laxus had been dancing circles around each other for like the last three _years_ and just last week Laxus had caught a drunken Freed before he could fall down, only for the green-haired man to smile and smash his lips against the blonde's. If Natsu got in the middle of them now when they'd _finally_ made _some_ progress, they'd never get their heads out of their asses. That, and Laxus would fry him alive.

"Laxus?" she pressed. He paled even further, eyes wide and horrified.

"I don't want to die, Lucy!" She smiled gently.

"Do you want me to make you a profile on Match?" she asked. Oh, she was evil. Completely evil. There was no way he was ever meeting up with one of those creeps that Cana described in her vivid recollections of her weekly activities.

"No! Then I'd be meeting even more creepy strangers!"

"He's not creepy," Lucy assured him, lower lip jutting out in a pout.

"He's still a _stranger,"_ he replied, determined to maintain his refusal solid.

"Fine. You don't have to meet him," she said quickly.

"For the last time, Lucy-, I… wait, what? What did you say?" He looked up at her, eyes narrowed in suspicion because there was no way she would ever say-

"You don't have to go on the date," she told him, a little triumphant smile on her face that didn't match her words at all.

He had a bad feeling about this. "But…?" he asked. Her smile grew wider.

"But I hid something you got in the mail recently and you're not getting it back unless I know you went on the date and stayed for at least thirty minutes." No. Hell no. He paid a lot for the design on those things.

"You didn't-"

"I did," she said, cutting him off.

"Lucy!" he shouted, "I've been waiting for that package for _weeks."_ He finished off with a hiss that would have intimidated her when she first moved in, but failed to have the same effect now. She knew him too well for that.

"And if you go on the blind date tomorrow, you won't have to wait any longer."

Natsu looked miserable as he mumbled out, "Okay," in a small voice, but Lucy just smiled. Natsu had needed a place to stay after a rough breakup when he and Lucy met at a dog park. She'd brought her white Shiba Inu, Plue, and Natsu… had brought along his _blue cat_ named _Happy_ when Plue ran toward the strangely colored cat and taken a liking to him. Lucy had been looking to move out from her place with Erza because ever since her and Jellal _finally_ resolved their issues, he practically lived there and Lucy felt like an awkward third wheel and a pervert whenever she couldn't find her set of headphones in the middle of the night. Her and Natsu had rented a two bedroom apartment, in a building that they had to constantly smuggle Plue and Happy in and out of because the landlord didn't allow pets, and had lived together ever since.

When he didn't pick his manga up to read it again and gnawed his lower lip between his teeth, she tried to cheer him up. He should be happy. He was going to be going on a hot date after all!

"Hey," she said.

He looked at her, frustration and what she'd come to recognize as fear written all over his features.

She sighed.

"Natsu, he's perfect for you." She wouldn't give him any details if he asked, because she wanted it to be a surprise and she had a feeling that if she _described_ him to Natsu, he would say that it wasn't his _'type'_ even though Natsu obviously didn't have a type.

Natsu looked away silently, and Lucy almost gave up on the matter until he mumbled something indecipherable.

"What?"

His voice was small, cheeks tinged pink when he softly spoke up, eyes locked on the cover of the manga on the table, "That's what Erza said last time."

Lucy's shoulders dropped a little and she leaned in to rub his shoulder consolingly, "Erza didn't know that blonde guy had feelings for his roommate."

Natsu shook off her hand. "I showed up for our _seventh_ date and they were _kissing._ A full-blown _makeout session_ , Lucy! He never even mentioned _Rogue_ to me and suddenly there they were, making out in the place I was supposed to meet Sting for _our date._ I've never felt so… so _stupid."_

Natsu had eventually learned all the sordid details. Sting and Rogue had been best friends since they were kids, had every class together, even ended up working the same jobs, both of them in love and silently pining for years and then Erza had met Minerva and, through her, Sting and convinced Natsu to give the guy a chance. _One blind date, just one. Natsu, how bad can it be?_

How bad, indeed. They had felt an instant connection, both of them loud and boisterous and nervous about dating and one date had become a few more. They'd held hands, and went out to eat together a few times, went on movie dates, and Sting was the first guy Natsu had kissed in over a year, since his breakup. Then Rogue saw that Sting, notorious for his one night stands, was actually getting serious with someone and ran to see him and confess to him, years of buried feelings, before he could get serious with someone else. Rogue had been going off about rejection and apologies and Sting had lent in and kissed him, full and soft and lingering, just as Natsu had stepped off of the bus to be greeted with the view. Everyone could have their happily ever after except him, apparently.

Lucy remembered how frustrated Natsu had been. He'd come home, locked himself in his room and all she'd heard had been repeating crashes from within that had made her beg him to open the door. He hadn't opened on the first night, and the crashing sounds hadn't ceased until the early hours of the morning. The next day he'd just played the same three songs on a loop, the ones that helped him sleep when he was stressed out or worried. After the third day, Natsu had come out, pasted on smile and cheery attitude as if nothing had happened.

Natsu came off as aloof and impulsive, but he cared a lot about the people around him and their problems sometimes became his problems. Even if he was busy or dealing with his own issues at the moment, he always made time for the people he considered his _nakama_ , and the absolute loyalty he showed his friends resulted in them responding in kind, looking out for him and trying to get him out of his shell.

Natsu was by no means shy. Not at all. He had more friends labelled 'close friends' than most people could realistically keep up with, but he somehow managed to do it effortlessly most of the time.

Dating was a different story. Natsu was gay, which most people assumed because of his hair color, despite the fact that it was _his natural hair color dammit,_ but he really struggled to find anyone who wanted anything long term. There were jerks who just wanted to pay twenty bucks for a date and then go back to their place and have sex. Natsu was gay, sure, that didn't mean he wanted to put out on the first date.

Then there had been his first real relationship. It had been with Loke. Six months, a move in, a series of calls in the middle of the night that Loke would never answer if Natsu was in the room, a used condom that Natsu discovered in the car, and a _nasty_ break up later, Natsu had been broken and had stopped dating entirely.

Loke had been the first person Natsu had told he was gay. Loke had been his best friend, and after one too many failed dates, had comforted Natsu. One thing led to another and, at the age of nineteen, Natsu had lost his virginity to him. He knew Loke hadn't meant to hurt him _now,_ but the fact that Loke had feelings for someone else, got drunk, and then didn't know how to end things with Natsu without losing his best friend didn't make it _hurt less._

It was _worse_ because after Natsu had some time and swallowed down his pride enough to read the apology texts and to listen to the voice messages on his phone, he actually understood and that left him hollow. The first person he'd let in and he hadn't been good enough to hold onto them. It was the biggest blow to his confidence that he could imagine and any time someone tried to ask him out since then resulted in an adamant refusal and sometimes in a new addition to his ' _nakama.'_

The blind date that Erza had snagged for him had obviously ended in a _disaster_ and it had been eight _months_ and, while he acted happy, the growing list of BL Mangas on his shelves and the sheer amount of hours he spent online reading _fanfiction_ for _Naruto_ and _Sasuke, Gon_ and _Killua, Hisoka_ and _Illumi, Eren_ and _Levi, Karma_ and _Nagisa, Lelouch_ and _Suzaku, Haru_ and _Makoto,_ eventually branching out of manga to _british children's books_ and shipping _Harry Potter_ and _Draco Malfoy,_ suggested that _happy_ he was not.

So. Lucy took matters into her own hands. Eve might be a little shy, but he was really sweet and he worked at a bar so he was definitely tough enough to handle Natsu and his boisterous behavior, considering how many drunk men he hauled out of the place even when they were twice his size. Martial Arts. People never expected a short guy like Eve to hand their ass to them, but he was better than most. She texted him the place that she thought they would both like, without Eve feeling like he was stepping in a toilet and without Natsu feeling intimidated.

She wrote the address down for Natsu, taping it to the cover of his beloved _Kuroshitsuji._ He scowled at her, and she smiled at him softly, knowing there was no use trying to calm him down when it came to his dating life. She would just have to let him go on the date and see for himself that he _was_ good enough. More than good enough. Hell, if he was straight she would ask him on a date herself. She also knew that he would _have_ to look at the location because he would be too afraid of tearing the cover to remove the tape from the manga cover. She turned the tv on, reruns of the latest season of Attack on Titan flashing on the screen and watched Natsu's eyes light up when Levi popped into view on the screen. All depressing thoughts of relationships that didn't work out or that _might have been_ flew out the window.

"Yes! Levi is _here_ and things are about to _go down. I'm all fired up!"_

She shook her head exasperatedly. Every time. Natsu got like this every time.


	2. Pink Floaties Be Damned

This was the last time Gray ever did Cana a favor. They'd been friends for a while, he was probably the only friend she had that didn't go to the… festivities... she threw and actually knew her since they were kids.

She'd broken up with Bacchus _again_ because those two never made it a full week before drunkenly messing with someone else and having a very _loud_ and _public break up,_ bottles swinging around and breaking against the sidewalk when one of them threw it in the other's direction, missing on purpose at point blank range because, even though they wouldn't _say the actual words_ after two years, they really did love each other and no one else could get their level of wasted and _still be alive_.

While he knew they'd get back together after they both went and had yet _another_ one night stand and realized they actually didn't _want_ someone else regardless of their level of intoxication, Gray had agreed to meet her at the small, but cozy, restaurant near her apartment so that they could get drunk together and mourn over failed relationships. They could have met at a bar, but Gray preferred restaurants where he was _discouraged_ when his stripping habit reared its determined head, rather than met with overly enthusiastic catcalls and drunken whistling which was more like random plops of spit flying out of stanger's mouths without warning that had him ducking for cover because _learn to fucking whistle right or don't whistle at all, you slobbering assholes._

Last time he ever agreed to anything for her. Honestly. The woman had texted Gray just as he'd been seated saying that she had found _alternative company_ for the night. So. Another one night stand that she'd laugh about, then fight with Bacchus about in public one more freaking time before they just fell into bed together and her entire complex would be reassured that she _definitely_ preferred Bacchus to whoever else had come along. Seriously. Gray had come to visit her once when she hadn't been home and the old lady across the hall _hit him with a purse_ telling him that resorting to prostitutes wasn't the _right path_ for a _handsome young man_.

After he'd finally explained that he was not a client and Cana was not a prostitute, earning himself a disbelieving snort from the lady, she'd calmed down enough to ask that if Cana wasn't a prostitute then _why did she have a weekly appointment with that Bacchus fellow?_ Cana and Bacchus always made up on Monday nights after they recovered from their weekend hangover and looked semi-decent again. Gray hadn't had an answer that he thought would satisfied her, so his shrug had been all the confirmation she needed to spread rumors and have Cana beating the shit out of men who came to her door trying to pay her for sex. Bacchus had been over when one of those incidents happened and that went down _soooo well._

Gray put away his phone and stared at the menu before him.

This was such a waste of time. He could just go home and drink that bottle of scotch beneath his bed, but… Ur had gifted it to him when he turned twenty-one and told him to save it for a special occasion, and special didn't apply here. Depressing, sure, but not special. He'd come here looking to get drunk over the shit his previous relationship had become.

Gray and Lyon had both been adopted by Ur when they were five, so they'd grown up together. They'd been through everything together and shared a room and when, at fourteen, Gray had had his first wet dream, Lyon hadn't made fun of him. He'd snuck into the sex shop though the back alley behind that dingy liquor store and stolen some porn mags for him.

When the tall women in swimsuits with oversized breasts just didn't do it for him, he'd said so, not realizing what that might imply. Lyon had stared at him with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before seemingly reaching some mental conclusion, nodding to himself, and getting something from under his own mattress and handing it to Gray.

Gray had taken one look at the cover of _Junjou Romantica_ and his face had spontaneously burst into flames. He'd opened the manga, but when he got to a more… explicit scene… Gray had looked up once to see Lyon watching him, face expressionless, and he had walked down the hall and locked himself in the bathroom, Manga in hand. When he'd come back to their room, Lyon had been asleep, and Gray had slipped the Manga back under the mattress. It became something that happened twice a week, Lyon coming home a little later after school and handing Gray a new chapter of Junjou Romantica or introducing him to a new yaoi edition, Gray locking himself in the bathroom and then slipping it back under Lyon's mattress.

Neither of them actually said that they were gay. It was just a secret they both silently agreed to keep. Then a year later, Gray had waited until the others were asleep to go to the bathroom, forgot to lock the door and Lyon had stumbled in on him, suddenly wide awake and staring at a very nude and very aroused Gray.

They'd been fifteen then and the relationship that grew out of that had lasted six _years._ That had ended five months ago. Around the middle of year five some girl started following Gray around and handing him love confessions in a very determined manner. Lyon had done him a favor by distracting her a number of times so that he could slip away unseen and they always agreed that they'd meet up later. After six months went by, the girl no longer followed Gray's every move and she'd begun a strange friendship with Lyon. Or so Gray thought. Then Lyon had blindsided him with a breakup and an explanation that included his _feelings for Juvia_ and the words _Gray, I never actually said I was gay. I like women too._

 _That would have been_ fantastic _to know earlier. Sometime within the last six years._

So, five months of drowning himself in his work later, Gray was here at a restaurant ready to finally drown his sorrows with a friend only to be alone. Again. He glared at the menu. Fucking Cana.

"Are you my date?"

Gray looked up, a little startled, and saw a cute guy around the same height as him, with salmon pink hair, absolutely flawless tan skin, and light green eyes frowning and looking at him expectantly.

"What?" Gray asked. He wasn't sure what the guy said, but he thought it might have been-

"Are. you. my. date. You know? Blind date? Are you the guy Lucy said was ' _perfect for me?'"_ he asked. He had placed air quotes around the claims of the chick named Lucy. Blind date? What? No. He was here to get wasted, but the guy was cute and he looked more nervous and angry by the second and Gray found himself saying-

"Yes." The man looked him up and down slowly and Gray found himself growing a little uncomfortable because if the first date he had, even an accidental one, took one look at him and walked away, his confidence might never recover, when the man finally sat down.

He glared at Gray, "Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

Gray blinked for a second. For a blind date, the guy obviously wasn't trying to make a very nice impression. "I just did," he said in about the same rude tone. He almost regretted it when the pinkette took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, closing his eyes before looking back up at Gray.

His hand rose up to scratch at the back of his neck awkwardly before he cleared his throat and said, "My name is Natsu." Natsu. Like summer. Cute.

"Gray." Natsu just picked up his menu and placed it, standing up on the table, covering most of his face as if he were reading a comic book or a newspaper. Gray rolled his eyes and knocked it flat on the surface.

"Hey!"

"Are you going to talk to me or not? Didn't _Lucy_ say I was _perfect for you?"_ He had no idea who Lucy was, but _still._ Usually people who were told someone was perfect for them were a little less _rude._

" _Lucy_ said that I have to stay for thirty minutes and that if I'm still not _interested,_ I can leave." Well, he was certainly honest. Definitely not like Lyon. That was a relief. No keeping secrets for months on end only to blindside him seemed to be in his immediate future with this guy.

"So you didn't want to be here." It wasn't a question, but the color that rose to Natsu's cheeks suddenly made him curious. _Why_ are _you here?_

"No, she just-" he cut off his words and sighed. "She hid my-" the rest of the words were incoherent mumbles.

Gray leaned forward a bit across the table. "She hid your what?"

Another deep breath. Gray wondered if this guy had anger issues. No problem. He could handle a fight with his father after he came back to try to take him from Ur even though he'd been deemed an unfit parent by the state. He could handle anything.

"She hid my arm floaties."

Gray sort of stopped all movement for about five seconds and just _stared_ at the blushing man across the table who had his arms crossed over his chest before he could recover enough to ask-

"Your… floaties?" A grown man using floaties.

"Yes," Natsu responded petulantly. Gray was struggling not to laugh.

"And why can't you buy new floaties?" he asked, tone flat and serious despite how hard he was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from _giggling because oh my god,_ the image of the man in front of him in a pool wearing arm floaties was just too much _._

"They were custom made." Natsu was blushing as bright as his hair and Gray took one look at it and took a shot in the dark.

"What color?" Natsu looked surprised for a moment before glaring at the table and mumbling incomprehensibly.

Gray smirked. "What was that? I didn't hear you."

"I said they were _pink."_

"Of course." Gray picked up his menu and let the subject drop. Natsu looked ready to throttle him just as the waitress came to take their order and Gray thought he looked unbelievably cute.

"Can I take your order?" she asked, looking between them and then settling her eyes on Gray who had a less homicidal aura.

Gray nodded. He looked over at Natsu who was still glaring at him silently, not even glancing at the waitress and figured he'd just order for them both.

"We'll take two cokes, a chicken salad for me, and the burger special for him with fries." Natsu looked like a beef kind of guy. He didn't protest as the waitress wrote it down so Gray figured he got it right.

The waitress finished and said, "I'll be back with your order soon."

She began to walk away when Gray remembered something and shot out his hand to grab her wrist and stop her. "Wait!"

He let go as soon as she stopped walking, but she blushed and asked, "Yes?" Natsu shifted uneasily in his seat.

"Can you make sure they don't put olives in the salad? I'm allergic," Gray told her.

She smiled and replied, "Anything for you, handsome."

When Natsu saw Gray grab the woman's wrist and she flirted with him, he almost got up and left, custom pink floaties be damned, but Gray took Natsu's hand, looked into his eyes, and kissed the back of it. Natsu felt his blush creep up all the way to his ears.

The waitress' eyes widened and she stuttered out an 'excuse me' as she left for the kitchens.

Natsu was too caught up in that dark lingering gaze that met his eyes to notice that she'd left. Damn Lucy. Damn Lucy to hell, but he was interested. He was _definitely_ interested.


	3. Out Of His League

Gray smiled at Natsu before reassuring him, "Trust me, I'm gay."

Natsu's blush wasn't fading. He gulped once. "I wasn't worried."

Gray laughed at that. He could call bullshit because Natsu had looked like he might have bashed his face in and stomped away when that waitress complimented him.

Admittedly, he shouldn't have grabbed her wrist, but he needed to make sure she didn't leave before he told her about the olives. Waitresses all walked too damn _fast_ and got away and then he had to wait until they came back around and then ask them to restart his order, so his food got there by the time whoever was with him had just finished their last bite and this _was a date_ and Gray would _not_ make his date bored watching him eat, not when the man had given him a limit of thirty minutes to interest him or watch him walk away.

While he was certain that Natsu walking away would make a tantalizing sight, it was a sight he would probably never see again if he let it happen after a mere thirty minutes and, despite his teasing, he found the man who came here merely on account of wanting back _pink floaties_ interesting.

"I'm sure you weren't," he teased.

Natsu didn't laugh or smile like he'd thought he would though, he just glared at the table now that there was no menu to hide behind.

"What's wrong?" Gray asked.

Natsu bit his lower lip, and Gray gripped his knees beneath to table harshly trying to maintain his concentration and not get distracted by the sight.

"In the interest of honesty," Natsu said, "I don't have the best experience with… this." He pointed in between them, not picking up his eyes.

"This?" Gray questioned, a bit of anger slipping into his tone. If this was another straight guy propositioning Gray because he was ' _prettier than most girls'_ and he wanted to ' _experiment,'_ Gray would punch him, no further questions.

Natsu's eyes looked up timidly, but held his stare stubbornly. "Dating," he elaborated.

Oh. _Oh._

Gray smiled bitterly, "I doubt your dating life has been any worse than mine."

Natsu opened his mouth to argue when the waitress returned.

"Okay! I have your drinks here and your orders will be ready in a few minutes. Is there anything else I can get either of you?" she asked, placing identical glass cups in front of either of them.

Natsu turned to her. "No, _thank you,"_ he intoned, glaring heatedly.

Gray muffled his laughter behind a cough and received the full brunt of the glare for it.

The waitress leaned in a little, unfazed and said, "The other waitresses think you two make a cute couple," giggling at the matching blushes rising on their faces as their eyes swept the room taking into account the waves from the other waitresses as theirs walked away.

There was an awkward silence, broken by Natsu clearing his throat and saying, "No one can beat me when it comes to a shitty relationship history." Wow. Apparently they were going to step on all the landmines tonight. Fine. Gray could take it.

Gray waved him off. "Seriously. You don't know what you're up against here. Let it go before you lose," he advised him. Natsu wasn't backing down from this one. This guy had milky white skin, free of blemishes, dark hair, dark eyes, the whole shebang. No sane person would leave him. There was no way Natsu was losing.

Natsu took a sip from his straw, swallowing, before saying, "You wanna bet?"

Gray narrowed his eyes, hand freezing around the base of his drink, staring Natsu down. How bad could his dating life be? The guy looked like a sun-kissed god. No one would walk away from that. Gray had a guaranteed win.

He smirked. "What do you get if you win?"

Natsu smiled thinly, "Free food. You pay for the date and I don't have to feel like a girl for it."

Gray didn't see a problem with that. "Sure, but that's not what I want if I win," he explained.

Natsu showed the faintest hint of hesitance before asking quietly, "What do you want?" If Gray said sex, Natsu would throw his drink in his face. He would not go through another creepy date no matter what Lucy's opinion on it was.

Gray's answer was short and sweet and not what Natsu was expecting.

"A kiss."

His smile was small, but smug as Natsu's eyes widened and he hid his face in his scarf to cover the heat coloring his face in shades of reddish pink. Still, his win was a sure thing and no kiss would be necessary. His eyes still met Gray's challengingly.

"Deal," he said, sticking out his hand.

Gray let his smile turn into a smirk that made Natsu's confidence falter for a moment.

"Deal." He took the stretched out hand and shook it. "So do you go first or do I?"

Natsu started. "My first date was with a man who tried to grope me in a park."

"I've never actually been taken out on a date before. My ex didn't think those were necessary because we already knew each other," Gray countered. Natsu upped his game.

"My first boyfriend was my best friend," he started. "Loke. I had gone on date after date with horny bastards and I was so sick of it and right after my nineteenth birthday, me and Loke… had sex. My first time. We were together for months, moved in and everything, and then I find a used condom in the car and _I'm_ the one that has to look for a new place to live because we moved into his house." Gray winced. Okay, that was pretty bad. But-

"My first boyfriend was my first everything. My mom adopted me and him within the same year, but we weren't related by blood or anything. My first kiss. My first time. And we got together when I was fifteen because he showed me a BL Manga and I reacted," he smiles then grimaces, "Six years down the road he left me saying that he never ' _actually said he was gay'_ and that he ' _liked women too.'"_ He stops and shakes his head. "Left me for, get this, _my stalker._ A woman that had been following me around that he was distracting to 'help me get away.' Bullshit. All of it." Natsu hid his grimace in his scarf. Yeah, that was pretty shitty, but still, if Gray had never been on a date, he couldn't beat Natsu.

"Yeah? I didn't even look at anybody for a year after my breakup and my friend sets me up with this guy. Gorgeous, loud, fun. Someone I could get along with, right? Only that turned into six dates and on date number seven, I walk off the ledge of the bus to see him making out with his childhood crush." Gray's eyes softened in sympathy, but he's still about to keep going when the waitress interrupts him.

"Hey guys, sorry for the delay, one of our chefs called in sick, so the kitchen's running a bit slow." She placed the olive-less chicken salad in front of Gray and the burger special with fries in front of Natsu. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Natsu opens his mouth and Gray shoots an arm out to cover his mouth and speaks over his muffled grumbling, "Thank you! But no, we're fine!"

"Are you sure?" she asks, laughter seeping out of her voice.

"I am _certain,"_ he informs her, glaring as she cackles and makes her way to the next table.

It's been about twenty-five minutes.

Gray removes his hand from the lower half of Natsu's face. Natsu's glare could set men on fire if there was any gasoline on hand.

"Anyway," Gray starts, picking at his salad, "When Lyon broke up with me and had his little happy ever after with _Juvia,_ his group of 'friends,' which were just a bunch of his exes apparently, found out and since they knew where I lived they wanted to find out what ' _goods Lyon left them for'_ and ' _have a taste.'"_

"Oh shit," Natsu responded, eyes wide and furious, "They didn't-"

"No," Gray let him know, "I fought them off long enough for my friend to get there and beat them off with smashed bottles of whiskey."

Natsu let out a breath of relief. "Thank god," he said, his face turning into one of quiet resignation, "Okay, you win."

Gray smiled, "Thank God for Cana."

Natsu stared at him in shock, "You _know_ Cana? Wait, _you're_ the childhood friend that Cana beat molesters off of with her whiskey bottles?"

Gray looked around nervously, whispering harshly, "Yes, can you be _any louder?_ I don't think the _chef_ heard you yet." Natsu looked around at the staring people in the neighboring tables.

He glared at the woman closest to them who was openly staring. "Can I _help_ you? Is there something you wanted to _say?_ Are our faces that _interesting?"_

"N-no," she stuttered.

"Then _what is everyone looking at?"_ he shouted. Everyone turned back to their meals.

Gray had hid his face in the palms of his hands.

Natsu looked at Gray and the embarrassment coming off of him in waves and pulled out his own phone from his pocket to check the time.

Thirty-five minutes. He'd finished the soda and the fries, but the burger remained untouched. He wolfed it down, glancing at the empty plate in front of Gray and waiving the waitress for the check.

Gray frowned. "So, you're leaving?"

"I was going to ask if you wanted to get out and walk somewhere. I don't like the feel of this place," he explained.

Gray studied his face for any signs of a polite lie, a sign of annoyance or irritation with him and saw none. He smiled. "Sure."

The waitress placed the check on the table and, after a brief game of tug of war, they decided to split the bill, though Gray slipped in two more dollars for the tip than Natsu did after Natsu turned away, so the waitress now had a twelve dollar tip for a thirty dollar meal when neither of them particularly liked her.

Natsu raced ahead to open the door for Gray with a cheeky grin that Gray couldn't muster the effort to glare at when it made him smile so easily. They turned left and Gray slipped his hand into Natsu's, pleased when Natsu blushed and hid a tiny smile, but didn't remove it, fingers intertwining with his own.

Natsu looked at him from the corner of his eye. "I, umm, I live about five blocks down this way, so I don't know if you-, I-if you want-"

"I'd like to walk you home. If that's okay with you."

Natsu let out a breath of air. "Okay. More than okay. Cool." He stuck an arm forward in the direction of his place, "Charge!"

It was a joke and Gray found himself laughing and walking along at a normal pace for a couple of steps before breaking into a full run, a wheezing, but grinning Natsu falling into step with him as they ran down the streets like lunatics.

Suddenly Natsu stopped, chuckles still rumbling out lowly before he collected himself and smiled at Gray, pointing at an apartment window somewhere on the second or third floor.

"This is me," he said.

Gray nodded, not letting go of his hand.

Natsu's smile turned nervous and his red cheeks grew the slightest shade redder.

"So you won the bet," he said, remembering their little wager.

Gray's breathing sped up. "I did."

Natsu nodded slowly, leaning forward, hand squeezing Gray's once, other hand brushing against pale white skin with the smallest feeling of stubble starting to peek out. Warm pink lips met soft cold ones lightly, parting slightly, the taste of coke and french fries and something sweet and something spicy mixing together in a few seconds, both their eyes slipping closed at the feeling.

They pulled apart slowly, both with matching sets of half-lidded eyes. Gray pressed his forehead against Natsu's. "Will I see you again?"

Natsu nodded, pulling away to take out his phone, asking Gray for his number. Gray stated the seven digits and Natsu called him. "There," he smiled, "Now you can contact me too."

Gray smiled in return, before grabbing the collar of Natsu's shirt and crushing their lips together, quick, hot, and taking off down the street.

Natsu dazedly made his way up the stairs toward his apartment. His phone vibrated in his hand. He took it out and read the words on the screen.

 _I know I only won one kiss, but I couldn't help myself._

Natsu felt his face heat up, but he could stop the smile that stretched his lips wide and made his cheeks hurt. He opened the door to his apartment and-

"Natsu! Where have you _been?_ How could you stand up Eve! He just called me saying he waited for thirty minutes! He's a nice guy and he showed up like five minutes late and you weren't-"

Lucy took a look at the huge smile on Natsu's face, the phone in his hand, the way he didn't immediately walk in to flip the TV channels to anime reruns or pick up a manga, and she cut herself off. Natsu had walked in looking so… _happy._

Natsu looked at her, smile dissipating slowly as he asked, "Eve? The guy you set me up with was named _Eve?"_

Lucy nodded.

Natsu looked at the texting thread and messaged Gray.

 _You don't actually know Lucy, do you?_

The answer came about ten seconds later.

 _No clue who she is. I was supposed to meet Cana to talk about her issues with Bacchus._

Natsu began typing when another text came through.

 _Sorry I wasn't her 'perfect guy for you,' but it doesn't matter does it?_

Natsu thought about the date, about the soft lingering kiss on his hand, the way they both ended up disliking the waitress, the way Gray smiled and laughed and they could tease each other back and forth. He thought about how they had just spilled years of terrible dating experiences and neither of them walked out of that place depressed or angry. He thought about the running down the streets like crazy people laughing madly, holding onto each other's hands. He thought about the kiss in front of his building. Or kisses. Plural. He texted Gray back.

 _No, It really doesn't._

Gray answered quickly.

 _Good._

He was still typing though, so Natsu waited.

 _By the way, I never said the prize was a kiss on the lips._

Natsu's face turned crimson and the three little dots showed Gray was still typing.

 _I just wanted to see if you would go for it._

Natsu typed at the speed of lightning before another embarrassing message could come through.

 _Yeah? See if I kiss you again next time._

Gray's response made warmth bloom in Natsu's chest.

 _As long as there's always a next time, I'll be happy I think._

Natsu felt like he was far out of his league. What had Gray said during their date?

" _Seriously. You don't know what you're up against here."_

He shook his head. Another message came through.

 _So if you stood up the other guy, do you still get back the pink floaties?_

A blink. Two. Natsu scared both Plue and Happy enough to jump off of their place on the couch as he looked around and yelled for, " _Lucy!"_


End file.
